Robinson Chirinos delivered a walk-off double with two outs in the 11th inning and the Houston Astros rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of this three-game series Friday at Minute Maid Park.

Chirinos drilled a 3-2 fastball from Branden Kline (1-3) into the left field corner, scoring Yuli Gurriel from first base to complete the comeback from a three-run deficit. Chirinos delivered on the eighth pitch of his at-bat two batters after Gurriel capped his 10-pitch at-bat with a single.

Left-hander Cionel Perez (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Round Rock earlier Friday, worked three perfect innings of relief. Josh Reddick and Tony Kemp socked home runs in the fifth inning for the Astros, with Kemp blasting a two-run homer into the upper deck in right to tie the contest.

Orioles right-hander Gabriel Ynoa delivered in just his third start of the season, limiting the Astros to a Tyler White leadoff single in the third before Houston plated three runs in the fifth.

Even after the Astros pulled even with their three-run fifth, Ynoa returned for the sixth and retired the side in order, closing his ledger having allowed three runs on three hits and three walks with two strikeouts. It marked, by length, his most effective start on the season.

Astros starter Gerrit Cole recovered from a rocky first inning to deliver arguably his most dominant performance on the season. He surrendered a two-run single on his first pitch to Orioles third baseman Rio Ruiz, a former Astros farmhand, but that came after Cole plunked Stevie Wilkerson with a pitch and Gurriel allowed Trey Mancini to reach safely via his throwing error.

Both Mancini and Anthony Santander, who had doubled down the first-base line with one out, scored on the Ruiz opposite-field single and, three batters into the third inning, the Astros trailed 3-0 when Cole surrendered a solo home run to Baltimore catcher Chance Sisco, his first of 2019.

By that juncture, Cole had five strikeouts. He closed the third with a strikeout of Wilkerson, opened the fourth with strikeouts of Ruiz and Keon Broxton, and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, striking out the side in the seventh. Cole, who leads the majors with 130 strikeouts, recorded a season-high 14 and among his 113 pitches, 29 were swinging strikes, the highest total registered in the majors this season. Cole allowed four hits and did not issue a walk.

--Field Level Media